Osteoblastoma and Plagiocephaly of an Iron Age individual from Ya’amun, Northern Jordan

Abstract

Little is known about the skeletal biology of the Iron Age inhabitants in Jordan, where this study comes to contribute to the previously described diseases of the same period. A single Iron Age skeleton that was unearthed at the site of Ya'amun in northern Jordan is presented. The subject was a male who died at the age of about 30 years old. Paleopathological investigations were performed using anthroposcopy and radiography. The analyses revealed many pathological lesions, including osteobalsoma of the right femur, craniosysntosis, plagiocephaly, asymmetry of the sacrum, fractures of the vertebrae, anemia, and osteoarthritis. This case marks the first example of neoplasm and plagiocephaly in the Iron Age of Jordan. Although the individual had survived serious health problems, he reached his third decade enduring intense daily activities representing the challenging living and subsistence conditions during the Iron Age.